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Montessori Short Bead Stairs
It’s hard to think of a way to make maths more attractive to a child than with a treasure chest of jewels. The Montessori Short Bead Stair is appealing to adults and children alike. It is irresistibe! There’s something about the colours, the compartments, the order, the shiny surfaces which is so inviting that you want to find out what this box is all about. What is the Montessori Short Bead Stair The beads are a material used by children throughout their primary school years to learn mathematical facts and processes. From straightforward counting to simple processes like counting on and addition to step counting and even multiplication and the…
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Learning at Home and Social Distancing
(Insert statement about difficult times here) Our home learning is very informal, although Alfie is old enough to be half way through his preschool year we haven’t started anything remotely like formal learning. Last week I sat down and thought critically about the kind of learning opportunities I was enabling. Home Learning Art & play: the vast majority of our day is spent in free play. Alfie loves creating scenarios for his mini figures and can spend hours muttering and singing to them. Indi frequently watches him or imitates what she sees him doing. Both of them have also been drawing and painting a lot and Alfie loves making models…
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Montessori Appropriate Fiction about Animals
In our home we tend to stick to five principles of Montessori Appropriate fiction, you can read more about them here, this can be tricky because Alfie LOVES animals and finding realistic animal fiction is tough. I’ve divided this list in two the first section features books with nothing unrealistic in terms of behaviour or ability, the second has some very mild fantasy. I’m happy to include some fantasy (Alfie is 3.5y) because this is a home not a school! Alfie spends so much time with real animals he knows the limits of their abilities. Likewise he can ‘read’ animal behaviours so knows they can think and have feelings eg…
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Cooking with Toddlers: Simple Apple Tart
Finding the perfect Montessori recipe for toddlers can be tricky. I usually find I have to get a bit creative with adult recipes. This apple tart is a combination of a few different ones that I’ve adapted to allow for greater toddler independence. Alfie (3.5y) complete each of the steps and only needed guidance on what to do next. It was really delicious and looked far fancier than it was. Toddler skills Spreading Rolling Peeling Mixing eggs Sieving Ingredients 3 large apples (I used Fuji) 1 sheet ready-made puff pastry 2 tbsp apple purée 20-30g butter 1 egg Few tbsp castor sugar Pinch of cinnamon Method Roll out sheet of…
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Montessori at Home; The Table Tray
Many a meal time have descended into a kind of seated jig for me. I plate up a meal, we sit down to eat and someone needs a drink, or someone forgot a fork, someone needs the toilet or someone wants more juice or in the worst scenarios they don’t like what’s on offer and I’m making something new. Meanwhile my dinner forms a skin and goes cold while my blood pressure creeps ever northward. I’m fairly laid back but this was starting to really grind my gears. So, I looked at our problems and tried to come up with a solution. Part of the problem was a lack of…
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Our New Montessori Kitchen
Over the last few months we’ve done a bit of moving and shaking at home. Our house layout wasn’t serving us anymore so we moved the playroom and with it the kids’ kitchen. However that didn’t really work either so their Montessori kitchen space has migrated back into our kitchen BUT I’ve made some changes to how it’s used. Follow us on Instagram to see daily stories of how we use Montessori at home. A Simple Montessori Kitchen Firstly I scaled their available equipment all the way back, they no longer have everything displayed all at once. We used to have too much choice, their utensils were all necessary for…
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Montessori Inspired Seed Exploration Tray
If you’ve been with us for a while you’ll know that growing vegetables is a big part of our summer rhythm. You’ll have heard all about veg patch and probably know more than you want to know about our hens. Gardening is such a long process, especially for a toddler. Alfie’s not quite 3 so a growing season one eight of his life – the equivalent of 4 years for me as a 30 year old! Planting seeds is over and done with in an afternoon or two and I wanted to draw out the process to help him recognise seeds and make the connection between seed and plant. I…
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Montessori Toddler Bedroom
A look at our Montessori toddler bedroom
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Dealing with Unwanted Gifts in a Montessori Home
What to do with non-Montessori gifts, alternatives to sugges and what to say when they just won’t listen!
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Montessori with Young Children Close In Age
7 tips from Montessori Moms for doing Montessori at home with two or more children
